Distractions
by andIJDC
Summary: Yokoi Rumi never has more fun than when she's watching Seki-kun's wild imagination come to life. A short oneshot on their changing relationship throughout the years.


**Considering the number of favorites this gained I decided it deserved to be fixed of a few minor issues from when I first rushed to write it.**

**Disclaimer: Tonari no Seki-kun is property of Morishige Takume**

* * *

In middle school, Yokoi Rumi unwillingly became an enthusiastic participant in Seki Toshinari's games.

In her defense, she _tried_ to put a stop to his unruly behavior at first, but when that didn't work, she quickly learned ways to keep him from going completely overboard (gone were the days that he could set up an entire class mail service). It's not like she got a kick out of it whenever she managed to disrupt his games to go according to how she wanted – despite what the cheeky grin on her face might suggest otherwise. She also _did not_ particularly look forward to going school just so she could see what new and ridiculous thing he could come up with.

She should have realized she was getting in too deep when Seki-kun started constructing his games in such a way that anticipated her participation.

Their last day of class, just before they graduated, when one heaven-sent teacher finally, _finally_ caught Seki-kun red-handed (though, in her opinion, it was really one of his more innocent and less extravagant games, but beggars can't be choosers), she would have cheered and cried tears of joy and victory… if not for the fact that she ended up pulling her hair in utter frustration and defeat instead when she was charged as his accomplice simply because she just _happened_ to be holding the other marionette in her hands when the teacher came looming ominously over them.

Graduation was a day of great relief and satisfaction to Rumi. She didn't even mind when she saw Seki-kun whittling his pencil into the form of the Eiffel Tower during the closing ceremony.

…

Unfortunately, in high school, it seemed she would be unable to escape her fate as Rumi begrudgingly became Seki-kun's friend.

Just when she had thought she had liberated herself of that unwanted distraction of a boy (having chosen one of the more academically rigorous high schools in the district – where luck and supernatural help weren't enough to get you in), she nearly chocked on air when on her first day at her new part time job she was introduced to a very familiar, slouching co-worker with a mop of messy black hair on his head.

If she had thought the things he could do at his desk had been extravagant, then the games he set up with an entire supermarket as his domain were mind-blowing.

Of course, Rumi went through the obligated "Seki-kun stop or you're going to get fired" routine, but as things would have it, she quickly realized that trying to go against him was more likely to only get herself fired. She instead helps guide customers away from the dairy aisle where Seki-kun is setting up a fortress out of milk cartons or distracts their boss while Seki-kun is dashing around the store in the middle of a tactical stuffed-animal battle with two random boys. (That day the little boys looked more than a little ashamed when Rumi annihilates all three of them with a deadly roll-and-shoot combo. Seki sulks for his entire shift.)

It's on a night when they both have closing shift, and she's returning the headset she had found (on a conveniently placed announcer's booth in the aisle she happened to be walking through) while he's putting away the remote control cars in his bottomless-pit of a bag, it hits her like a stack of bricks that she's never had a real conversation with Seki-kun for as long as they've known each other. It almost feels surreal when after a long, agonizing pause, Seki-kun finally answers her question with more than three words.

As days go by and the more they talk, Rumi learns that Seki-kun is just as evil, stubborn, and childish as she's always imagined, and she's never more excited to go to work than the days she has the same shift as him. After three years of building this tiring friendship, she can't help feel a bittersweet pang in her heart when they are forced to part ways. She will be going to a college miles away, and Seki-kun… well, she never asked, because she knew he would always be doing whatever the heck he wants to regardless.

The day Rumi hands in her resignation letter, she ends up stomping away from the employee break room with an angry huff while a dark-haired teen is running around, attempting to catch all the grasshoppers that had just been released from inside her going-away present. She really should have known better than to expect a simple goodbye.

…

College comes and goes with three part time jobs throughout, two boyfriends in between, and one teaching degree at the end.

Rumi thinks they were fun days.

Probably.

…

As a working adult, Rumi's always unsure and confused as to how exactly she started dating that _still_ childish man named Seki.

It's not until a couple months after she's returned back to her home town, living with her parents until she gets settled at her new teaching job and can find decent apartment of her own, that she even sees him again. She'll never admit that the reason she ends up stopping in front of a curious little shop with mountains of trinkets and toys visible through the shop's large glass windows, was because that shoji board on display brought up a distant memory of a young boy at a desk, and her heart fills with a longing sense of nostalgia. She definitely does not practically run into the store when she notices that one of shoji pieces is marked as "princess."

The dark-haired jerk behind at the shop counter doesn't even look up from whatever it is he's working on when she enters until he feels a sudden cold sweat gathering at the base of his neck, and the sensation is so familiar that he automatically throws his arms around his creation to protect it from a certain, outside interference. When he whips his head up, his eyes wide in panic and dread, Rumi's dark glare quickly dissolves into a teasing smile that makes this older-version of Seki glare in return. The small and cheeky smile that soon replaces it is most enthralling thing she's ever seen him produce.

The transition from a couple of working adults simply sharing in a child-like passion for the extravagant and absurd to something resembling romance comes in varying moments of awkward touches, dramatic dates, and spontaneous kisses spread throughout months spent surrounded by various knickknacks in a little toy shop hidden from the world.

…

After they kiss on their wedding day and she turns to take in all the happy faces of her friends and family, Yokoi Rumi's heart skips a beat when she spots something hidden underneath the front pew of the groom's side.

She bursts into tears when she recognizes a familiar robot family sitting in their own miniature bench, and she knows they're there to give their congratulations to her. Everyone is more than a little confused when they see the cheerful, glowing bride suddenly become an emotional, sobbing mess. They are even more disturbed when the groom's smile broadens, and he gets a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he holds his crying wife's hand.

Yeah, maybe she'll admit it now – she loves Seki-kun's distractions.


End file.
